
Enter the Darkness to Greet the Dawn
Can we face the darkness of our own depths? Individuals and societies who can’t face their own shadow side will often project it on others.
Can we face the darkness of our own depths? Individuals and societies who can’t face their own shadow side will often project it on others.
“Evening the Evenings” by Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael
I heard the following Midrash repeatedly from my teacher, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi:
There are many Jewish mystical concepts and doctrines that center on the metaphor of light. Classic Kabbalistic works often have names that focus on light, such as Sefer Ha-Bahir (the Book of Brightness) or the Zohar (the Brilliance). Ohr Ein Sof (Infinite, “Never-ending” Light) is the name for the divine light that emanated from the Ein Sof (the Infinite Godhead) at creation.
Shabbat, the Sabbath, and Jewish holidays all begin with the kindling of lights in the home. By lighting candles, we emulate God, whose first act of creation was making light, and we reveal the hidden light by welcoming in Shabbat, a day-long taste of the Garden of Eden, of the Messianic Era of harmony and peace.
After completing the candle blessing is a wonderful time to gaze into the warm and peaceful lights of Shabbat, and to offer a personal prayer for loved ones or wherever your concerns are directed. This was the realm of traditional women’s prayers (techinot), prayers uttered from the heart when lighting candles or performing other mitzvot associated with women, but need not be limited to women. Shabbat candle-lighting is also a great time to gather loved ones around and offer them words of blessing along with a hug and a kiss.
I love watching the interplay of light filtered through green leaves onto water, the sparkling diamonds of light on the gurgling stream. Light can only be appreciated as it balances and plays with darkness, with shadow.Our lives, too, have periods of light and dark. We go through dark moods of sadness, the valleys of the shadow (Psalm 23), the dark night of the soul.
Joy for its own sake, laughter and conviviality without pretext, meeting time’s advance with unapologetic delight, raucous noise, good friends — these are nothing less than the eruption of the hidden light cracking the conventional crust of our mature good sense, our dehumanizing obsession with control, our idolatrous reliance on possession as salvation.
— Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
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